Various embodiments of this invention relate generally to fiber-optic sensors, and, more particularly, to fiber-optic temperature sensors in wavelength-division-multiplexed optical fiber systems.
Present-generation commercial fiber-optic temperature sensors employ optical fibers with diameters that are quite large compared to the type of fiber used for WDM systems. In order to use such sensors on a structure, a separate set of fiber-optic cables would have to be installed in addition to the WDM optical fiber.
It is therefore a need to develop a fiber-optic temperature sensor that can utilize the same WDM fiber without interfering with the other WDM systems and still accurately determine temperature even in the presence of some variations in optical power levels used in the sensor.
It is a further need to provide methods to distinguish multiple sensors from each other on the same optical fiber.